Twitter (X) After Death: How to Deactivate or Preserve an Account

X (formerly Twitter) will not give family members access to a deceased person's account. What it offers is deactivation: someone authorized to act for the estate, or a verified immediate family member, can ask X to deactivate the account by sending a death certificate and their own ID. If you want to keep the person's posts, save them before you make that request. This page covers the choices, the documents and how to plan for your own account.

What are my options for a loved one's X account?

There are two realistic paths.

1. Ask X to deactivate the account. This is the option X describes for families. The account is removed from public view.
2. Leave it as it is. If the person's login was shared through a password manager or kept on paper, the account can stay up. X's terms let it remove accounts, and its handling of inactive accounts has changed over time, so a removed account's @username may become available to someone else.

There is no middle path you can rely on. X has not made a memorial mode part of its deceased-user policy the way Facebook has, so check X's help center for anything new before you decide. Our guides to Facebook after death and Instagram after death explain how memorialization works on those platforms.

Why won't X give me the password?

X's policy is not to provide access to a deceased person's account to anyone, regardless of relationship. The reason is privacy: an account holds direct messages and other private content. Federal law also generally restricts providers from disclosing the contents of communications without lawful consent (18 U.S.C. § 2702).

State laws based on the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) give executors a legal route in some cases. In Florida's version, for example, an executor can get a list of the person's contacts and message times, while the content needs the person's prior consent or a court order. How X responds to such a request is up to X and your state's law, so talk to a probate attorney if the account holds something important to the estate, such as business content or a verified handle.

If you already have the password, X's terms of service generally treat the account as personal. The law on a relative logging in is unsettled, so use the official request when you can. Our guide to password management after death explains how passwords are meant to be passed on.

How do I save posts and photos first?

Do this before asking for deactivation, because you cannot ask X for the contents afterward.

• If you have the login: X's settings let the account holder request a download of their data, including posts and media. Request it from the account's settings, and keep the file in a safe place.
• If you do not have the login: copy or screenshot the public posts, replies and photos you want to keep. Note the date you saved them.
• Save things others posted to the person (tributes, photos) if they matter to the family.
• Consider a separate memorial. A memorial page can hold the best posts alongside photos and stories. See our guide to online memorials.

How do I ask X to deactivate the account?

1. Gather what you need. The account's @username, a copy of the death certificate, a copy of your government-issued ID, and a short note of your relationship or your authority, such as a letter of authority from the court.
2. Find the right form. Go to X's help center and choose the option for contacting X about a deceased family member's account. Do not use the hacked-account or general report forms, which go to different teams.
3. Submit the request and keep copies of what you sent.
4. Wait for a reply. X verifies the documents before acting, and you may be asked for more.

Requirements can change, so read the form's instructions before you start. Treat deactivation as permanent: X will not return the contents to you afterward.

How do I plan for my own X account?

Planning ahead avoids most of the problems above.

• Decide whether you want the account removed or left up, and write it down.
• Keep the login in a password manager, and tell your executor where the master password is. See our estate inventory checklist.
• Download your own archive from X's settings every so often so your family has a copy.
• Name who may manage your social accounts in your will or another document, using wording your attorney provides.

What to do next

1. Check whether you have the person's login through a password manager or their papers.
2. Save the posts and photos you want to keep.
3. Send the deceased-user request with the death certificate and your ID.
4. Go through the person's other social accounts using our guide to managing a deceased person's social media.